2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray: Cruise Control Works, Even When you Shift

June 20, 2014

Typically, when you've got a car with a manual transmission and cruise control, the cruise control disengages when you shift gears. This is not the case in our long-term 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

Yup, you heard right. The owner's manual states, "If equipped with a manual transmission, the cruise control will remain active when the gears are shifted. The cruise is disengaged if the clutch is pressed for several seconds."

Even the C7, with all its V8 torque, bogs down a bit when you're in seventh gear going 60 mph and you come upon a long uphill grade. Naturally, you downshift to get back in the powerband and instead of the car cutting out and requiring you to reset the cruise control, it maintains the speed in whatever gear you select. Sixth, fifth, fourth, third, you name it. It also maintains cruise control through upshifts.

There are two issues though. First, there's a small drop in speed depending on the gear shift. No biggie. Second, if you quickly engage the clutch, shift into neutral and then disengage the clutch, the cruise control system thinks the car is in gear and attempts to accelerate. Revs climb a couple-thousand RPMs and the car eventually figures out what's wrong (or you can just re-engage the clutch) and cruise control switches off. Neither issue is really a deal-breaker though.